This document presents a research proposal on assessing post-harvest losses and handling of tomatoes in Offinso-North Municipality, Ghana. The proposal outlines the problem of high post-harvest losses reducing farmer profits. It aims to examine tomato varieties grown, harvesting techniques, and handling at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The methodology will involve random sampling of 55 people across the supply chain to collect data through questionnaires, interviews and observations, which will be analyzed using graphs, charts and tables to identify relationships between variables. The expected outcome is solutions to minimize losses and improve farmer returns in a major tomato producing region of Ghana.

1. VALLEY VIEW UNIVERSITY
TECHIMAN CAMPUS
RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTATION
ON
ASSESMENT OF POST-HARVEST LOSSES
AND HANDLING OF TOMATOES IN THE
OFFINSO-NORTH MUNICIPALITY
PRESENTED BY:
ESSEL AMA EUNICE
211AB02000002

2. OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSAL
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INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
PROBLEM STATEMENT
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
METHODOLOGY
EXPECTED OUTCOME
WORK PLAN
REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTION
• Tomato is a fruit crop which originated as a wild form
of fruit in the Peru- Ecuador; Bolivia area of the
Andes. it was first cultivated by the Aztecs and Incas
as early as 700AD. the latin name of this crop is
lycopersicon escutetum, meaning edible wolf's peach.
it became globally accepted in the18th century
(seymour et al, 1993).
• Tomato is globally cultivated for its fleshy fruits and
also known as protective food because of the
nutritive value and its wide spread production, it is the
world's largest vegetable crop after potato and it top
the list of canned vegetables. (hobson, 1993)

4. INTRODUCTION
• In Ghana tomato grows well in both the
humid and
savanna areas; tomato requires warm template zones or
areas and has a relatively short growing season.
Commercial tomato production in Ghana is concentrated in
the Ashanti region and Brong Aharfo region, with
Akomadan, in the North-offinso, Ashanti region as its major
producer (kallon1991).
• The loamy sandy soil of the Offinso-north are ideal for
growing this crop thought it sometimes does well in the
loamy silt soils of the Brong Aharfo region. A well drainage
soil is what most farmers prefer in the cultivation of this
crop. Due to climate and rainfall pattern in the OffinsoNorth District major cultivation is done there.

5. INTRODUCTION
• Record study shows that (Hobson, 1993), the largest
production of tomato comes from the central part of
Ghana, particularly in Offinso North and Techiman. On
centering on the Akomadan district, large quantities of
tomatoes are produced between November and March.
• Due to its peak production for the country, problems
that faces the crop has being put to thought and
solutions are being addressed to it. Some of these
problems has been noticed to be the post- harvest looses
and handling of this crop.

6. INTRODUCTION
• Although there has been various solutions like; providing
farmer with the right tool to harvest, this problem still
pends, and this is why there is a need to be a study on the
post-harvest looses and handling, most Ghanaians use the
tomato crop almost everyday, in the sauces, soups and
even sometimes eats it raw, by either grinding together
with pepper and onion.
• Due to how well the vegetable has being known to the
people, there is always a demand for the crop in
whichever form, and this shows how well much attention
should be given to the crop to prevent damage of the
crops always whiles handling after harvesting.

7. LITERATURE REVIEW
• Taxonomy of Tomato
– Tomato, as a member of the solanum genus, belongs to the
solanoidaeae sub- family, and tribe solaneae.(Taylor, 1986).
– The genus includes a small collection of cultivated and wild species
like S.lycopersicon Mili, S. pimpinellifollium, S. cheesemannii.
– The leaves of the crop contains toxic alkaloids, which makes it
unedible for human consumption.
– Lycopersicon esculentum is the botanical of the tomato, it can also be
called Love apple;the crop belongs to the solanaceae family (that is
the night shade family. like the pepper and garden eggs).
– It comes in a wild range of shapes, sizes and color; some may be
oval, heart, elongated, red, yellow, orange and sometimes
brown.(wilkinson et al,1995).
– The tomato loves sun, and is grown as a warm weather annual crop,
although it is actually a tender perennial. Tomato as an annual herb is
mostly 2m-3m tall, the stem are hairy with strong odor. The terminal
bud often becomes an inflorescence and growth usually is continued
by auxiliary bud.

8. LITERATURE REVIEW
-
Due to this when not well harvest and properly at the
recommended temperature, does not keep long and looks fresh,
retracting good price to itself, most of the assembly women
who trade in the tomato patronage say ”its best sold in small,
medium and even sometimes big boxes, made of wood,(tomato
women association, 2011), and this help the harvested crop to
last longer than its assumed life span” .

9. LITERATURE REVIEW
• Varieties
• The Indeterminate: the vines of this grows constantly
throughout the season
• Large determinate: vines grow to a good size, but increase
little more after that.
• Determinate: vine stays small to a medium size, no matter
how much you nourish and
whatever treatment given to
it.
• The fruits of these plants are international favorites and
there are more varieties sold of it than of any other
vegetable. They may be eaten cooked or eaten directly as
raw vegetable or consumed in a variety of processed
products like ketch-up, sauce, chutney, juice, diced, paste,
soup and etc.

10. LITERATURE REVIEW
• Nutritional Value
• It is a rich source of vitamin A and C, and also contains minerals like
iron, phosphorus, source of dietary fibers antioxidant like lycopene
and beta-carotene.
• Tomato has a medicinal property, which is most of the time used in
the treatment of ulcer. it is also a cholestrol lowering fruit. Experts
counseled that, a diet rich in tomato is also a cheap way to reduce
circulating cholestrol in the blood; reported by Sade Oguntaola.
This is a developmental process that is exclusive to plants whereby
mature seed-bearing organsFruit ripening;
undergo physiological and metabolic changes that promotes seed
dispersal (seymour et al, 1993).

11. PROBLEM STATEMENT
• A major problem observed in the production and distribution is that, in
the cities and urban areas, the cost of the fruit is higher as compared to
the producing areas.
• The crop is noticed to be always available in the producing area and its
surrounding farming communities; price are affordable low in these areas
as compared to the big cities.
• There are several cases where the tomatoes rot in abundance in the boxes
and have to be dumped into the bins(Stanely et al 1998).
• There has being a reported case where farmers complain of poor returns ,
due to the losses
• How the crop is being handled at all levels and harvested, has also being
noticed to be a result of the early rotting of the crop. A question is asked
when these cases arise; is it the transportation or
varieties that are
being produced? Or the way of harvesting, or the handling? Farmers at
the Akomadan district, are still having a problem which needs to be
attended to.

12. JUSTIFICATION
Owing to the deplorable state of our road networks, fruits that are
able to make it to the market do not last for long as they are usually
injured or damage. This also brings sellers low profit. Also the lack
of processing plant for the produce is a hindering factor to
production as quantity produced is not fully exploited. Due to the
diverse product of which the fruit can be put, its shelve life is
increased. The product is bought from the door steps of farmers by
these processing and manufacturing companies, and it is
complementarily by the fact that; their road networks are better off
than ours. Markets outside of Ghana is higher in the western and this
can be exploited by minimizing post-harvest loses/ handling, and
working on improving our storage facilities, harvesting the crop well
and having good transportation of the crop from the farm to the
primary buyers.

13. JUSTIFICATION
Tomato is one of the most demanding vegetable in
Ghana and western part of the world. Burkina
Faso is a major supplier to Ghana as far as tomato
consumption is concerned. Local production is
unable to meet the demand since most of the
product is left to rot on farm sites due to poor road
network linking to farms, and the markets in the
rural and urban areas. This prevents purchasers
from purchasing it from farmers as the cost tends
to increase due to the state of the roads. The
perishable nature of the fruit also forms part of the
reasons why local production is not able to meet the
market demand.

14. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
 The main aim of this study is to assess post harvest
handling and losses of tomato at all levels through which it
passes through before it reaches the final consumer, in
Akomadan, the offinso- North District.
 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
• To examine the varieties grown
• To assess the harvesting technique of the tomatoes
• To investigate the handling of tomatoes at the primary,
secondary and tertiary level.
• To investigate the availability of storage facilities within
the farming communities.

15. METHODOLOGY
• Suggested and assumed method which will be used in
gathering information and data for this study will
involve materials like: a camera, pen and a paper,
graph, charts and designed questionnaires,
• Study Area: The area of the study will be at the
Akomadan, a small town, and a capital of the offinsoNorth, a district in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

16. METHODOLOGY
METHOD
There will be a random sampling of 55 people;
GROUPS
NUMBER OF PEOPLE
Farmers
15
Laborers
10
Cleaners at the farm
6
Primary Buyers
15
Secondary Buyers
5
Store keepers
4
Tertiary buyers
5

17. METHODOLOGY
 DATA COLLECTION
• The data collection of the information needed fo the
study will be by
• Personal interviews with farmers, with these
questionnaires:
• Personal observation whiles activities are on-going.
• Middlemen patronizing in the tomato transportation
• One on one interview with the secondary buyers.

18. METHODOLOGY
 ANALYSIS OF THE DATA:
• there will be an in-depth comparism of the collected
data.
• Identification of the relationships between various data
that will help me
understand more about my
respondent and guide me to better decision making.
• Comparing the observed activities with what is being
told by the farmers and
harvesters. All depending
on the objective I need to attain from my respondents,
• all the above analysis will involve graph, chart, tables
and figures.

19. EXPECTED OUTCOMES
• At the end of the study, the following output should
be achieved;
• The cause or reason of the post-harvest losses in the
tomato fruit.
• The disadvantages of not using well equipment in
storing the tomatoes and how that is
contributing to the post-harvest losses.
• The best harvesting technique to help in the
reduction of the losses and
• The best way of handling the crop during the
transportation of the crop through the various ways.

20. ACTIVITIES
SEPTEMBER
4TH
LITERATURE
REVIEW
VISIT
DATA
COLLECTION
1. FARMERS
2. LABOURERS
3. STORE
KEEPERS
4. PRIMARY
BUYERS
5. SECONDARY
BUYERS
ANALYSIS OF
DATA AND
EDITING
REVIEW OF
PREVIOUS
DRAFTED WORK
CHAPTER 4 &
5 DRAFTING
OVERVIEW OF
STUDY &
REFRENCING
OCTOBER
2
3
4
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER JANUARY
FEBRUARY
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

21. REFERENCES
1. www.google.com,Seymour et al (1993). 6th october, 2013
2. Stanely et al (1998). Vegetables of warm climate,
www.google.com.
3. Boadu D.Q.(1998)fruits and Vegetable crops production,
Accra, Ghana.